Kori jumped behind the tree. Her mind raced with flurries of emotion while her heart threatened to hammer out of her chest. In the distance, she heard pebbles grind under his feet and his breath pant in exertion. She remembered his mesmerizing form when she caught him training before. The way his body moved as one with his sword. Desire to see him, to talk to him burned through her chest. I can’t do anything if I’m hiding. She breathed deep to calm herself and walked into view.
Disturbed by a sudden presence, Hekai’s face hardened when their eyes met. “What are you doing here?” He stepped towards her, his eyes flashing.
“I was with Steffen and took a walk,” she said. A familiar tightness gripped her stomach. The uncertainty and fear from their first meeting repeated all over again. “A coincidence.”
“You should go back.” The sword in his hand rattled from tension.
“But I haven’t seen you in so long,” she said, almost pleading. “I wanted to know how you were.”
“I’m fine.” His tone cut her like a hot knife. “Now, go back.”
“But-” she tried to argue.
“The mission is done,” he interrupted. The words shook her bones.
Something intense seeped from Hekai, like a sickness that contaminated the atmosphere. His eyes explained the distance that now sat between them. Clear and black as a cloudless night, but coated with coldness. She wished for the strength to just turn and walk away. Kori hated craving the presence of someone so far out of her reach; Hated the sense of calmness and security being in his presence gave her.
Hekai walked over to a rock outcropping that sat off to the left to retrieve the scabbard there. He sheathed his sword and strapped it onto his back with irritated attention. He turned to look back at her. She feared what he could be thinking, but she couldn’t deny the elation she experienced seeing him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve caused you a lot of trouble so I can see why you wouldn’t want me around.” Kori saw him stiffen at her words. “I just…” she began but her heart skipped a beat upon realizing what she almost said. I just wanted to see you no matter what.
“You need to understand.” He stepped towards her. “It’s best if we don’t see each other anymore.”
“I can’t believe that!” she yelled, weeks of emotion exploding out. “I know you don’t mean it.”
“Oh, you know me so well?” he growled. “You have no idea.”
“I admit I don’t know much about you, but…”
“Nothing is what you know,” he corrected.
They stood in silence. She observed his rigid stance as he stared at the ground. Kori’s mind panicked trying to think of what to say to prolong this experience. With no idea if she would see him again, she needed to push for answers. Now.
“When I discovered that you were real and not some weird hallucination that appeared out of nowhere,” Kori began. “I strove with everything I had to meet you. I want to know you.”
“It’s a wasted effort,” he snapped as he turned away from her. “Now go… Steffen is probably looking for you.”
He doesn’t even want me to get close to him? Not even as a friend? The pain of his words coursed through her chest but Kori needed the truth. A reason existed to why she saw him so often, watching her in her world. Even if the reality tore her heart apart, she had to know.
“If that’s the case, then fine, I’ll go but I want to ask you this first,” she took a breath to fight back the surge of pain. “For years, you watched me in my world. Why?”
“Seeing you in the Other World was just a coincidence,” he said. He eyed her with a hard look. “I never sought you out.”
“Even so, you came for me when I was in the forest, and when those Mercenaries took me.” Her chest hurt remembering her glee. “Why would you save someone you never sought out?”
“I came for you those times because you were important to Himen’s plans.” Hekai dropped his eyes to the ground. “It was my mission to discover what they were doing and you were the key.”
He used me? The gentleness he showed, the things he said when he saved her, all flashed through her mind. He’s lying. The pain cut so deep that Kori couldn’t breathe. Her words poured out fast, like a river of flooded emotion.
“You were so nice to me even though you didn’t have to be.” Tears streamed free down her face. Kori wiped them away. “You must really be regretting doing any of that. It must have really been a pain. No wonder you don’t want me around,” she mumbled. Hekai’s demeanor remained the same stoic silence as before. He began to walk away.
“I understand, but despite that,” Kori said, yet not really hearing her own words. “Despite that, I don’t. I don’t regret anything. Not coming here to this world, being kidnapped, meeting everyone; nothing. Well, maybe you getting wounded, but otherwise I wouldn’t change a thing. Not even finally meeting you.” Her voice fought through her sorrow. “I doubt you care but until we met I had no idea I could love someone as much as I do you.”
Hekai froze from his retreat. Kori clasped her hands over her mouth in a gasp. The tears increased and her breath hiccuped in her throat. Not only will she never see him again, but he would never see her as anything but a stupid girl. Her heart sank down into her anguished misery and stepped back against the oak she hid behind to hold herself up. It took everything not to fall apart.
Hekai cursed. “I can’t do this anymore!” He paced.
Kori couldn’t look up at him, couldn’t think, couldn’t comprehend why he didn’t just walk away. So lost in her shock, it took her a second to realize that he stood mere inches from her. Startled, her eyes shot up to his face that she no longer recognized. So glazed over, his eyes turned her into a pane of glass where her soul shivered in grief and loss inside of her. Hekai placed his hands on the rough bark on either side of her and leaned down to her ear. When Kori felt his hot breath on her neck, she stopped breathing, moving; everything.
In a soft voice, he repeated, “I can’t do this anymore. I give up.”
What’s he mean by that? She expected him to be angry, to just leave without a word; to do anything but this. His musk of sweat, earth and pine trees encircled her. She loved that scent; his scent. Would this be the last time she experienced it?
“You shouldn’t have said that,” he whispered, leaning up to look at her. “I no longer wish to hold myself back.”
“I don’t under-” she began, but his hands stroked both sides of her face in a gentle caress. Her cheeks heated upon his touch and the world around her hazed. She reached up and clasped his hands to her cheek. Hekai wiped the streams away. With a sigh, he closed the distance between them and traced her lips with his in want. The sensation of his arousing gesture brought back the memories of the dream. The carnal need for him that ignited from that moment took over her senses. Before she knew it, Kori arched her chin and kissed him, only pulling back when the shock of her action seeped in. Hekai’s breath grew labored and he pulled her lips back to his in a light embrace. A gasp escaped allowing her mouth to open and giving him a chance to work deeper.
Kori moaned when his tongue met hers and everything submerged in desire. Only his touch, heat and strength surrounded her world at that moment. A purr like sound emanated from his chest when her mouth began working in unison with his. Not able to resist any longer, she pushed passed his hands and draped her arms around his neck to pull closer to him. She wanted as much of him as she could get. Without warning, Hekai’s excitement amplified. His hands wrapped around her waist and he lifted her up to his level without even taking a breath. His lips drowned her in his passion. He pinned her against the tree as he grabbed one of her legs and wrapped it around his waist. She groaned from the pain of the sharp bark but made little protest otherwise. She took it as payment for the only time she would ever have all of him. His hand worked higher up her thigh when Hekai became ridged and his lips parted from hers. His breath came quick and heavy, grazing her chilled neck. He released his grip and placed her back on her feet. Kori’s mind bordered between ecstasy and panic. Hekai pulled her reluctant arms from him. He stood frozen while holding her wrists till he calmed.
“See,” he whispered, exhausted. “I told you I couldn’t hold back anymore.”
“It’s not like I did either,” she whispered back. He grinned and his chest vibrated in a chuckle.
His head snapped up when something caught his attention. In the far distance, Kori heard her name being called by someone who sounded desperate. Reality came crashing down on her. “Conra!” she said in a panic.
“A friend?” he asked.
“Yes, she helps me,” Kori said, unable to meet his eyes.
“Listen,” he said, lifting her chin to force her gaze. “You didn’t see me.”
“I didn’t?” she repeated, confused.
“I will find you later. Okay?” His eyes pleaded his words’ importance.
“Okay,” Kori agreed, mesmerized. His hands released her and before she could catch her breath, he vanished. After weeks of agonizing with her feelings, they became more twisted up than ever.
